Latest Christian Relationship Advice News

By robert, on August 4th, 2016

“Funny and Clean, But Comedy…and Life…Wasn’t Always That Way for Jeff Allen.”Image by FatherDalton
*Comedian Jeff Allen is in town (along with blues guitarist Glenn Kaiser,
the Jump Street Swing Band and patriotic singer Jody Vitarelli, along with a
special message from Army major general Kurt Stein and emcee Chris Stevenson
from WMUZ, 103.5 FM) on **Saturday,** **November 5** to perform at “We Love
Our Veterans!” – a variety program and FUNDRAISER for Veterans and Active
Duty Personnel at Christ the King Church in Oxford.*

(pic, headshot, here)

Jeff Allen has been doing comedy for four decades and his work has been seen
on every cable comedy show in the U.S. including Comedy Central’s Premium
Blend and VH1’s Standup Spotlight. His one?hour special, Happy Wife, Happy
Life® aired on the Odyssey Channel, Family Net and the Worship Network. He
was a featured comedian at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and the
Montreal Just for Laughs International Comedy Festival, the most prestigious
comedy Festivals in the world. He also headlined his own national comedy
tour, Jeff Allen & Friends: Funny People of Faith.

It is fitting that Jeff Allen should be in town to perform his special brand
of comedy at an event in support of the military. Jeff was all set to join
the Air Force, largely because, as he puts it, “I had nothing else going for
me.” More on that later… As it happened, right before Jeff was to take his
physical he got a job offer from a comedy club. So the twenty-two year old
with nothing to lose headed to Cincinnati and began his comedy career in
1978. His career was not without it’s initial challenges, such as being
informed by a club owner that he “was just not funny” and should consider a
different career path.

So far a not so unusual tale of a comedian who seemed to find his calling
just in time. Except… this Jeff Allen, who works at Church and faith
venues around the country, is the same Jeff Allen who used to get mail
addressed to “Mr. Psycho.” Jeff wasn’t always a happy, well?adjusted
comedian. At one point, he was a victim of alcohol and drug abuse, living a
depressing life and struggling to get by from day to day. Finally, the
threat of losing the one person who had been his touchstone through those
struggles made him turn to a new source of strength.

Jeff met and later married Tami, but as drinking and drugs slowly blew
Jeff’s career apart, their relationship suffered as well. After years of
rage, sadness and pain, Jeff and Tami decided to call it quits. With
divorce papers signed, they were 10 minutes from the courthouse when they
decided to try again. With two children, and barely any career left, Jeff
hit rock bottom, turned to Alcoholics Anonymous, recovered himself, and
through generous help from a total stranger, found comfort in God. Jeff
says, “The single greatest gift I get from my relationship with Jesus is
peace. For the first

time in my life, I am at peace in my own skin. From that peace, I am able
to do what I love to do – make people laugh. I’ve been a comic for 20+

years, and right now I’m having the time of my life.”

Jeff is not afraid to be brutally honest about his past failures as a parent
and a husband. His credo addresses those failures right on, “You’re only as
sick as your secrets.” It’s about making it real. “I have always worked from
the inside out.” And where inside once was a lot of rage, Jeff, through his
faith in Jesus Christ and support of his wife and family has softened and
found that instead of beating himself up over his failings, he could use
those painful experiences to relate to, encourage, and ultimately entertain
his audience. As a Christian and a comedian, Jeff fully believes he is
living out Romans 8:28 which says *“And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.”* He encourages others to “get a plan.” And Jeff’s comedy plan is
to keep it clean and funny, very funny.

One wonders if Jeff tailors his comedy routine when speaking to a military
audience. For Jeff it’s pretty much the same things he has always talked
about. “There’s not much difference, I still talk about life, about breaking
sacred cows, finding the humor in marriage and every day life.” It’s not a
difficult thing for Jeff to stay clean in his comedy, recalling the sage
advice of Jerry Seinfield (talking about clean versus crude comedy), “Why do
a joke for 300 in a club (where vulgarity is par for the course and that
line between good and bad taste ‘just isn’t there’) when you could be doing
it for 300 million on the Tonight Show?”

(second pic, Jeff with mic, here)

So we return to Jeff’s appearance on stage November 5 in support of our
veterans. Jeff’s connection to the military was not solely his aborted
attempt to join the Air Force. Jeff’s father had also been in the service in
the 82nd Airborne (Says Jeff, “I wanted that special services uniform!”).
Also, Jeff’s son Aaron enlisted soon after 9/11 and had a deployment with
the 101st Airborne in Iraq.

Jeff spent some time entertaining on the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis in
January of 2002 just after the invasion of Afghanistan, entertaining troops
in Bahrain, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. It was quite an eye
opener. “(The Air Force) does thing’s the right way! And pilots are by far
the coolest!”

So it comes full circle for the man from Saulk Village, Illinois, from plans
to join the military, to a complete about face toward a comedy career, and
ending up on a stage making people laugh AND supporting our troops back here
in the Midwest. For Jeff, it’s a no-brainer:

“It’s a good cause, and we need to laugh, the Creator created us to laugh.”

Information for the “We Love Our Veterans!” (Saturday, November 5)
fundraising event (tickets are ), with ALL PROCEEDS GOING TO LOCAL
VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS such as Wounded Warrior Project, Vietnam Veterans of
America and the VA Medical Center, can be found online atwww.the-stand.org/wlov.fcum or on Facebook @We Love Our Veterans.

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